In this topic, we focus on the principles that support you in persevering through any challenges that may be faced when pursuing a career in personal training. You will learn:
- The principles that support you in staying on track to survive and thrive as a personal trainer.
- The 7 M’s of personal training
Terminology and vocabulary reference guide
As an allied health professional, you need to be familiar with terms associated with basic exercise principles and use the terms correctly (and confidently) with clients, your colleagues, and other allied health professionals. You will be introduced to many terms and definitions. Add any unfamiliar terms to your own vocabulary reference guide.
Activities
There are practical activities in the topic. These are not part of your assessment but will provide practical experience that will help you in your work and help you prepare for your formal assessment.
The ability to persevere through challenges and obstacles is the key to a successful careeer. However, in many cases, it is easier said than done. So, what stops us?
There are many factors that can stop us from reaching our goals, especially in the fitness industry, as progression relies heavily on you, the individual, which can dictate earnings, how many hours are worked and how much business can be generated. Although this can be seen as an advantage, to some, it can be seen as a hinderance that can slow down motivation and progression.
The following principles will help personal trainers stay on track, survive, thrive and change lives!
Patience
Rome wasn’t built in a day, establishing a successful business takes time. Perhaps working as a gym instructor or working as a personal trainer employee in the interim is a good idea and can help you grow your target base and create relationships with clients, which will support you in branching out when you decide to open your own business. It is also a good idea, when starting any new business, to have some savings in reserve until you are financially on your feet.
Plan
Set up a business plan early on starting with a vision for your business, failing to plan is planning to fail.
Other aspects to consider when planning should include:
- Business goals (how many weekly hours you need to dedicate to your business etc)
- Strategy to reach those goals
- Pricing
- Promotion
Policies and procedures (e.g., cancellation procedure), what do you need and how will you collate or create these?
Promotion
How are you going to promote your services in such a competitive market?
- Word of mouth
- Active referrals
- Advertising (in-house, externally, social media)
- Free sessions/free consultations – Gym Staff (sales)
- Floor walking
- Email databases
- Groups/corporates.
Point of difference
What type of trainer are you? In what ways are you different from the others? What is your unique selling point (USP)? Look to specialise on top of your general conditioning skills, for example, will you focus on:
- Bodybuilding
- Sports specific
- CrossFit
- Boxing/MMA
- Injury rehab
- Massage.
Professionalism
Professionalism is key, you may be the most knowledgeable fitness professional in your network however, without a respectable level of professionalism, it will be difficult to obtain and maintain clients. The following are of high importance:
- Appearance
- Time keeping
- Clear and honest communication
- Dedication and attention towards the client(s) you are training
- Following up, no one likes to feel unimportant.
Passion
It is important you maintain a passion for the job, once your passion fades, your carer will fade along with.
It’s not about being the best. It’s about being better than you were yesterday.Stephanie Chappa
Progression
Progression within any industry requires commitment, ensure you make time to commit to your own success. Successful way to do this can include
- Attending seminars and conferences
- Obtaining ancillary qualifications (boxing certificate, CrossFit certificate etc)
- Listening to podcasts
- Taking courses or watching quality videos online
- Continuously networking
- Attend round table with other like professionals and share advice and knowledge.
People skills
Having the ability to connect with gym members on a personal level is crucial to establishing and maintaining an on-going relationship:
- Find common ground
- Find out as much information as possible about your client, as they are comfortable to share, do not impose.
Working on your conversational skills with your clients is important when endevouring to connect with them on a personal level and helping them become more comfortable and confident. This can be achieved between sets, whilst moving between exercises, during warmup and cool down and throughout personal milestones including their birthdays, Christmas etc.
Although it’s important to develop natural conversation with your clients, it is also crucial to work on the emotional connection between them and yourself. Emotional intelligence is the ability to:
- Recognise one's own and others
- To identify different feelings and label them appropriately
- To use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour.
These skills will help you understand how they may be feeling at different moments and assist you in responding appropriately to either calm their nerves, motivate and encourage them or simply being there as their support.
Protégé/mentor relationship
Find an experienced and successful trainer who you would like to emulate and use them as a mentor. This will provide you with a wealth of information, support and guidance in your career, continuing your learning from someone who has direct and current experience in the industry.
Practice what you preach!
Stay in shape, be an inspiration. Not only is working out a great time to interact with and possibly obtain new clients, but this gives members of the gym an opportunity to see you in action, witness your grit when training, see your skills, watch you progress and achieve your goals, generally, practicing when you preach. Be an inspiration, show others it can be done, hard work is worth it.
The 7 M’s of training
A handy mantra to keep in mind when working with clients is the seven M’s, this will help you remember that a personal trainer should always:
- Manage the clients’ training
- Monitor their progress
- Motivate them with their enthusiasm
- Maintain their momentum in order to …
- Maximise their results in a minimum amount of time.
In this topic, we focused on the principles that support you in persevering through any challenges that may be faced when pursuing a career in personal training. You have learnt:
- The principles that support you in staying on track to survive and thrive as a personal trainer.
- The 7 M’s of personal training
